


A Child and A Wizard

by soft_but_gremlin



Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Child Acquisition, Gen, Isolation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26897080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_but_gremlin/pseuds/soft_but_gremlin
Summary: Some days, Ben Kenobi forgot he existed.Other days, the Force leads him to something that makes it impossible to forget.(Whumptober day 8: abandoned/isolation)
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Owen Lars & Beru Whitesun, Owen Lars/Beru Whitesun
Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946629
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	A Child and A Wizard

Some days, Ben Kenobi forgot he existed.

It was easy, when he went for weeks on end without speaking to or seeing another person. Sometimes he spent countless days sitting on the floor of his hut. Not doing anything. Not meditating. Just...sitting.

Other days, he wandered the desert, passing any way the Force led him. Some days, he came across banthas, or womp rats, or the occasional Krayt dragon. Some days he encountered Jawas, or Tuskens, or troublemakers. Often, he encountered nothing but sand mirages and ghosts.

When he heard a soft wailing, he at first thought it was the call of a desert bird. Still, it was the most interesting thing he’d heard all afternoon, so he decided to investigate, and see what sort of bird it was.

It was not a bird. It was a child. A human child, in fact. He had no idea how it had gotten out here. It was at least a four hour walk to the outermost outskirts of Anchorhead from here. The nearest human settlement would probably be...a Darklighter farm? One of the Darklighter farms, he believed.

Perhaps this was a vision. There was no reason for a human child to be out this far.

The child scrambled up and backed away. “W-who are you?” it asked, with a trembling voice.

Ben looked around for who the child was speaking to. He hadn’t noticed anyone else in the vicinity, and he was typically pretty good at noticing anyone coming for miles. He saw no one but the child.

“Yeah, I’m talking to you!” the child said, trying to sound intimidating. He noticed it was looking at him.

Ah.

“Me?” he croaked, just to confirm. His voice came out harsh, rusty. It had, perhaps, been quite some time since the last time he’d said something aloud.

“Yeah, you,” the child said.

“You may call me Ben,” he said, removing his cowl so the child might see his face. “I am but a wanderer of the desert. And you are?”

The child was suspicious, wary. Tatooine didn’t tend to produce any other sort. “Biggs,” he said.

“You’re awfully far from town, Biggs,” Ben said.

Biggs looked down. “They left me behind,” he said, voice wobbling. “W-we stopped to explore an old dragon skeleton and eat lunch and sleep through the hottest part of the day and I didn’t think I’d wandered  _ that _ far but when I got back they’d  _ forgotten  _ about me and left me behind!”

“Who did?”

“M’friends,” Biggs mumbled. “Luke and Tank and Fixer.”

Well. At least Ben could be certain that this child hadn’t been orphaned in the desert. He was lucky to have gotten to it before anything more dangerous had.

“I should hope that you’ve been missing long enough that they’re now out looking for you,” Ben said. “But if they aren’t, we had best start walking if we want to get you somewhere safe before nightfall. Come along.”

“Where are you going?” Biggs asked suspiciously.

“There is a small moisture farm on the outskirts of Anchorhead run by Beru and Owen Lars. You will be safe with them until we find your friends or family.”

“Oh, Beru and Owen!” Biggs said, lighting up and starting to follow. “That’s Luke’s aunt and uncle!” He paused, as though coming to a realization. “You’re the  _ Wizard _ , aren’t you?”

“Some have called me that, yes,” Ben said, pulling up his hood. He didn’t need his hair going white any faster than it already was.

“Are you  _ really  _ a thousand years old?” Biggs asked, ducking to walk in Ben’s shadow, where it was marginally cooler. He was warming up quickly, now that he knew who Ben was and that he was being taken somewhere safe.

Ben chuckled. “Not quite  _ that _ old,” he said.

“I  _ knew _ Luke was full of poodoo!” Biggs said. “I bet you’re not any older than two hundred.”

Ben wasn’t sure whether or not to be offended. Surely he wasn’t greying  _ that _ fast. He hummed noncommittally. “Your guess is certainly much closer than your friend’s,” he said. 

Biggs grinned brightly at that, clearly pleased.

“What kind of magic do you do?” Biggs asked. “Can you  _ really  _ turn into a krayt dragon? Can you teleport? Can you turn  _ me _ into a krayt dragon? Can you fly?”

“Who says I can do any magic at all?” Ben asked.

“Mr. Owen,” Biggs said. “He says you do all sorts of strange and unnatural things in the desert.”

“Ah,” Ben said. “Yes, that does seem like something Owen would say.”

“How come does Mr. Owen not like you?” Biggs asked. “Did you turn him into a profogg or something?”

“That is a question you would have to ask him yourself,” Ben said. It was...a complicated question, and one he knew Owen wouldn't appreciate him answering.

They walked for about an hour before Ben saw that the boy was getting tired, and then they rested in the shade of a large rock. Ben fished a canteen from his tunics, sniffed the contents, and then handed it to Biggs.

“Here, have a drink of this,” Ben said.

Biggs took a polite-sized drink, and handed it back. He made a face at the taste. “What is it?” he asked, once he’d swallowed.

“Tea,” Ben said.

“It tastes weird. Is it magic?”

“My old mentor would certainly call it that,” Ben said. “He was of the opinion that nearly anything could be cured by a good cup of tea.”

“Can it?”

“No,” Ben said. “But there are certainly many things that can be improved by a cup of tea.”

“Like what?”

“Hmm...I used to give my brother tea whenever he had nightmares. It was very rare that he would have another one during the night after having tea.”

“Wow,” Biggs said. “That  _ is  _ magic!”

Ben gave a soft smile.

The two of them sat in the shade for a while longer, and then with a sigh, Ben slowly got to his feet. Biggs groaned when he realized that they’d have to start walking again.

“If you’re tired, I can carry you,” Ben said mildly.

“I’m okay,” Biggs said. “I can walk.”

Biggs fell into step in his shadow once more, and Ben tried not to think of another child who used to follow in his shadow.

The two were mostly quiet as they walked, the heat and exercise beginning to take its toll.

Eventually, Ben started hearing the high-pitched whine of speeders, and he turned to see which direction they were coming from. They weren’t coming from Anchorhead, that was for sure. And while he didn’t sense any hostile intentions yet, that didn’t mean they were necessarily friendly.

As sandclouds kicked up in the distance, Ben shifted between them and Biggs, sliding his hands into a defensive position on his staff. “Stay behind me, Biggs,” he said.

Biggs didn’t argue. Biggs was a wary child; Tatooine didn’t tend to produce any other sort.

Ben felt small hands grip tightly to his robe as the speeders approached, then encircled the two of them. Ben looked around. Human, all of them, and vaguely familiar…

Ah. There.

“Hello, Beru,” Ben said, nodding at the woman with a blaster rifle in her hands.

“Hello, Ben,” Beru said. “You haven’t happened to find a lost child while you’ve been baking your brains in the sun, have you?”

“Mama!” Biggs suddenly cried, running towards a speeder to Beru’s left.

“He probably stole the child himself,” someone muttered from next to Beru.

“Ah, hello, Owen,” Ben said dryly. “What would I possibly do with a child? You and I both know I’m hardly equipped to care for one.”

Owen glared at Ben. Ben held his gaze with a neutral look of his own.

In the background, Biggs was saying, “Mama! The Wizard found me when I was lost in the desert! He gave me some magic tea that cures nightmares and he knows Beru and he was gonna walk with me all the way to the Lars homestead to make sure I wasn’t lost in the dark!”

Something small leaped out of the Lars speeder at Ben. He dropped his staff in surprise as he automatically moved to catch it.

Small hands clung around his neck, and another small child said, “Thank you Mr. Wizard for saving my best friend!”

“I—of course,” Ben said.

“Luke! You get back in the speeder this instant!”

Ben made sure that Luke didn’t hurt himself as he slid out of Ben’s arms, and watched as the boy easily jumped back up into the speeder. He was already beginning to show signs...just ever so slightly faster, ever so slightly more graceful than he should be. He was just about the age that his father started  _ his  _ training—

Ben cut that thought off, and picked up his staff. “I thank you all for saving me a trip into town,” he said mildly. “I’ll be off now. Young Biggs, take care to stay closer to your friends from now on. Not everything in the desert is as friendly as I have been today.”

“Yes, Mr. The Wizard!” Biggs said. “Thank you!”

Ben turned back the way he came, towards the setting suns, and began walking once more. He could feel the glare of Owen Lars burning into his back as he left the speeder circle. 

Then the speeders buzzed off, and Ben was left alone once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Life cycle of someone from Tatooine goes wary child -> reckless teenager -> wary adult lmao.


End file.
